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Working in Ireland – contracts, the 2026 minimum wage, holidays, PRSI and your qualifications

Last updated 25 September 2026Rules checked every MondayOfficial sourcesSources & methodology →

Ireland raised its minimum wage to €14.15 on 1 January 2026, lifted the salary floors for employment permits on 1 March and raises PRSI again on 1 October. On an EU passport or a Critical Skills Employment Permit, here is what your contract must say, what you can expect to earn and what comes off your payslip.

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Photo: Gorodenkoff/Adobe Stock

Working in Ireland in 2026 comes with fresh numbers. The national minimum wage rose to €14.15 an hour on 1 January 2026; the salary floors for a Critical Skills Employment Permit and a General Employment Permit rose on 1 March 2026, the first step of a roadmap to 2030; and employee PRSI (Pay Related Social Insurance) goes from 4.2 to 4.35 per cent on 1 October 2026. Underneath, the rules of the Irish workplace are stable and mostly on your side.

Who can work in Ireland without an employment permit?

Citizens of the EEA, Switzerland and the UK can live and work in Ireland without an employment permit. Everyone else needs one before starting, obtained after a job offer and applied for from outside Ireland, unless an immigration stamp already allows work, such as Stamp 4. Part 2 covers the routes.

PermitMinimum salary from 1 March 2026Key conditions
Critical Skills Employment Permit€40,904 for occupations on the Critical Skills list (degree required); €36,848 if you qualified in the previous 12 months; €68,911 for any occupation not on the ineligible listJob offer of at least 2 years; fee €1,000; Stamp 4 after 21 months
General Employment Permit€36,605; €32,691 for horticulture, meat processing, healthcare assistants and home support workers; €34,009 with a relevant Irish degree from the previous 12 monthsLabour Market Needs Test of at least 28 days unless the job pays €68,911 or is on the Critical Skills list; fee €500 up to 6 months, €1,000 up to 24 months; Stamp 4 after 57 months

Source: the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment and Citizens Information, read 24 September 2026.

Applications go to the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment at least 12 weeks before the start date, and the employer must have at least 50 per cent EEA staff. Under section 55 of the Employment Permits Act 2024 the employer may not recover the fee from you. Since 2 September 2024 you may change employer within the same profession after nine months without a new permit; if made redundant, notify the Department within four weeks and you have up to six months to find another job.

What must an Irish employment contract say?

Every employee has a contract automatically, written or not, but the law sets deadlines for paper. Within five days your employer must give you the core terms in writing: names, address, place of work, start date, job title, pay, expected hours and probation terms. The rest – leave, sick pay, pension, notice, collective agreements – follows within a month, and the written dismissal procedures within 28 days.

Since 1 August 2022 probation may not exceed six months, extendable in exceptional circumstances to 12 at most. An employer cannot ban a second job without objective grounds. If you regularly work more hours than your contract says, you can ask for a band of hours reflecting your average over the past 12 months; variable-hours workers get 24 hours' notice of their hours.

Minimum wage 2026, and what people actually earn

The full minimum wage applies from age 20; apprentices and close relatives of the employer are excluded. Tips, overtime and unsocial-hours premiums do not count towards it, though board and lodging from the employer do, at €1.27 an hour and €33.42 a week. Unpaid internships and work trials must be paid the minimum wage, and a living wage at 60 per cent of the median wage is to replace it from 2029.

GroupHourly rate since 1 January 2026Share of the full rate
Aged 20 and over€14.15100 per cent
Aged 19€12.7490 per cent
Aged 18€11.3280 per cent
Under 18€9.9170 per cent

Source: Citizens Information, read 24 September 2026.

For scale, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) puts median weekly earnings in 2024 at €730.89, or €44,816 a year; information and communication paid a median €1,440.36 a week, accommodation and food €391.62. Average weekly earnings reached €1,046.88 in the second quarter of 2026, up 3.9 per cent in a year.

Hours, annual leave, public holidays and sick pay

RightWhat applies
Working weekMaximum 48 hours on average over 4 months (6 months in security, hospitals, agriculture and seasonal work; 12 months by Labour Court-approved agreement)
Annual leaveAt least 4 working weeks a year, leave year 1 April to 31 March: 4 weeks after 1,365 hours worked or 8 per cent of hours worked; 2 unbroken weeks after 8 months' service
Public holidays10 a year: a paid day off, an extra day's leave or pay, or a paid day off within a month
Sick paySince 1 January 2024, 5 days a year at 70 per cent of pay up to €110 a day from the employer, after 13 weeks' service, with a medical certificate

Source: Citizens Information, read 24 September 2026.

PRSI, tax and your pension from the first payslip

Give your employer your PPS number (Personal Public Service number) and register the job in Revenue myAccount before your first pay day; part 7 has the detail. Income tax is 20 per cent up to €44,000 for a single person in 2026 (€53,000 for a married couple with one income) and 40 per cent above, plus the USC (Universal Social Charge) and PRSI.

Most employees pay PRSI at Class A: nothing on weekly pay of €352 or less, otherwise 4.2 per cent of all earnings until 30 September 2026 and 4.35 per cent from 1 October 2026, with a tapered credit of up to €12 between €352.01 and €424. Your employer adds 11.25 per cent (9 per cent on weekly pay up to €552), rising to 11.4 and 9.15. These contributions qualify you for benefits and the State Pension, and combine with contributions paid in another EEA country. The self-employed pay Class S: 4.2 per cent (4.35 from October) or at least €650 a year.

MyFutureFund, the auto-enrolment pension launched on 1 January 2026 for employees aged 23 to 60 earning €20,000 or more with no payroll pension, takes 1.5 per cent of salary from you and the same from your employer in years one to three, rising to 6 per cent by year ten; the State adds €1 for every €3 you pay. You may opt out after six months.

Getting your qualifications recognised, and where to look for work

NARIC Ireland publishes free comparability statements mapping more than 2,000 foreign qualifications to the ten-level National Framework of Qualifications: an honours bachelor's degree is level 8, a master's 9, a doctorate 10. They are generic, and not issued for professional licences. Regulated professions – teacher, electrician, architect, doctor, accountant, pharmacist, security guard – require registration with the Irish competent authority first; architects, dentists, doctors, midwives, nurses, pharmacists and vets get automatic EU recognition but must still register. UK professional qualifications have not been automatically recognised since 1 January 2021.

Intreo, the public employment service of the Department of Social Protection, is the single point of contact for job-search support and income supports; its free site JobsIreland needs a basic MyGovID account, and EURES covers jobs across Europe. Anyone unemployed can use Intreo, though people on a jobseeker's payment come first. You have a constitutional right to join a trade union, typically for 0.5 to 1 per cent of gross salary. Complaints go to the Workplace Relations Commission online within six months of the incident.

What to do now

StepWhatWhen
1Non-EEA nationals: compare the offer with the permit floors; the employer applies onlineAt least 12 weeks before the start date
2Order a NARIC statement; in a regulated profession, register with the competent authorityBefore you apply for jobs
3Give your employer your PPS number and register the job in Revenue myAccountBefore the first pay day
4Check that the core written terms arrive within 5 days and the rest within a monthFirst month
5Check the first payslip for PRSI Class A, USC and MyFutureFundFirst pay day

Source: the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, Revenue, the Department of Social Protection and Citizens Information, read 24 September 2026.

Official sources

The official pages this guide is based on, read 24 September 2026. Links open the authority’s own website.

Relocate in Europe provides general information, not legal or financial advice for your individual situation. Check with the authority named above before you act – rules change, and your case may differ.